I’ve been running out of room in my chest freezer for long term storage. I have a single stage controller on it. I got another freezer off of craigslist last weekend to expand, and thinking I will just hook both up to the same controller, set at 45 degrees. Of course the temp probe will only be in one, but the freezers are the exact same.
Any problems I’m not thinking of? It seems it should work fine.
I would think you’d be fine. Theres no compressors involved but I run 2 brewer heat pads off of one controller with no issue. They cycle on and off at the same time.
It’ll depend on what loads are in the two. i’d control off the one with more stuff in it, just because this one will be more stable.
I’m just thinking out loud… If you are only controlling one freezer, the second freezer will only come on when power is provided to the first. So, if it warms faster for any reason, but only comes on for as long as the first freezer is running, it may not cool down enough. Or maybe vise-verse is the case with it cooling faster than the first would. Thus it may not be as controllable as the first. It is worth a try.
I thought the same thing and that may very well happen. But I dont think it’d be a huge deal for just beer storage purposes. Unless he plans on fermenting in the second freezer…wouldnt recommend that.
It would be interesting to use an indoor/outdoor temperature device in the second freezer, which would at least show you the temperature extremes.
I have a third chest freezer for fermenting. And that one has dual controller with a heater. That changed really helped my beer along.
I would buy another controller Mic. You risk either freezing some beer or keeping it warm. Better to be warm.
You could put a collar on each and connect them with a fan so the air is shared, stabilizing both of them. But a second controller is the easiest and cheapest solution for keeping them both stable.
You’ll need to take measurements. Two indoor/outdoor thermometers should give you enough info whether or not to trust it following it over the course of days. Load up the freezers the same and you’ll quickly find out if one cools differently and enough to harm the beer.
That’s the interim advice. I suggest following Tom’s suggestion on purchasing an additional controller.
I’d shell out for a second controller but the collar with a fan is a brilliant!
~Sent through this great digital frontier using my Dinc.
I agree that adding a second controller might save you some headache and heartache down the road. I f you are anything like me, you might see fit to repurpose that chest freezer down the road (in the near or distant future) as a second fermenting (one for ales, one for lagers) chamber or a chamber for lagering beers. In either case you want to be able to control what is going on in that freezer independently.